Governing Council Today: Terry Redding, Communications Committee

The AAA annual meeting in Chicago last week was a lot of fun and a bundle of activity.

The NAPA Governing Council gathers during the meeting to discuss NAPA business and activities. To prepare for the discussion, committee chairs submit reports on committee activities and anticipated issues moving forward. These reports will be made public soon in the archives section of this website. It is planned that committee reports, which are produced twice annually (prior to the AAA and SfAA meetings), will be archived on this site, on an ongoing basis.

NAPA sponsored a number of activities, such as the Career Expo on Friday, conducted in conjunction with AAA. Well over 500 students and faculty passed through to discuss careers with 40 anthropologists working outside the academy. Instant mentors also met visitors for brief career discussions. Instant mentors were also on hand Saturday at the AAA Graduate Program fair.

On Friday night, at the annual Business Meeting, NAPA presented the annual Student Achievement Awards. Winners are posted in the student/faculty section of this site. Following the Business Meeting, WAPA presented the biennial Praxis Award, with recipients listed on their site, www.wapadc.org. A well-attended reception co-sponsored by NAPA, WAPA, and COPAA followed the activities.

On Saturday, students attended the NAPA Networking Event and worked in small groups with NAPA leaders to discuss networking and job-seeking strategies.

Of course during all of these festivities there were NAPA workshops and sessions going on. For those of you who attended, it was great to see you. For those who missed it, we look forward to seeing you next year in Washington, DC.

In the meantime, NAPA is making its annual push to recruit volunteers to participate in all of these and other activities. Volunteering is a great way to learn about NAPA and gain insights into the world of anthropological practice, and of course an excellent means to continue building a solid and supportive network of practicing and applied anthropologists. See the volunteering page on this website for details.

Be in touch soon, either directly or through ths site’s “contact us” form, and give us your thoughts and ideas to build a better NAPA!